Scientists are preparing to dive deep into the depths of the Indian Ocean.
The scientists from the British-led Nekton Mission plan to survey wildlife and gauge the effects of climate change in the unexplored “Midnight Zone” where light barely reaches but life still thrives.
Working with the Seychelles and Maldives governments, the five-week expedition is targeting seamounts — vast underwater mountains that rise thousands of metres from the sea floor.
To explore such inhospitable depths, the Nekton scientists will board one of the world’s most advanced submersibles, called Limiting Factor.
“What we do know is that beneath 1,000 metres (3,280 feet), there’s no light down there, but a lot of animals… are bioluminescent. It’s life that glows,” said Nekton mission director Oliver Steeds.
“The area that we’re going to be researching, it’s one of the most biodiverse parts of the world’s oceans. So what we’re going to find there is unknown,” Mr Steeds recently told the Associated Press in Barcelona, before sea trials for the submersible and its mother ship.
Last August, the Limiting Factor completed the Five Deeps Expedition, diving to the deepest point in each of the world’s five oceans. The deepest was almost 11,000 metres (36,000 feet) down — deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
To withstand such crushing pressures, the sub’s two-person crew compartment is wrapped in a 9cm titanium cocoon. It also carries up to 96 hours of emergency oxygen.
The sub you ask? Introducing you to the DSV Limiting Factor – built by our partners #tritonsubmarines, it recently completed the world’s first manned exploration of the deepest point in each of the five oceans, it is the only human-occupied full ocean depth submersible out there! pic.twitter.com/oPjcfG4QaI
— Nekton Mission (@nektonmission) February 5, 2020
“There are only five vehicles in the world that can get below 6,000 metres (19,685 feet), and only one that can get to the bottom half,” said expedition leader Rob McCallum.
“So everything we do is new. Everything we see is virtually a new discovery.”
Using sampling, sensor and mapping technology, scientists expect to identify new species and towering seamounts, as well as observe man-made impacts, such as climate change and plastic pollution.
Last May, when Limiting Factor descended to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, the ocean’s deepest point, its pilot spotted a plastic bag.
“When we actually think of the living space on the planet for species, over 90% of that living space is in the ocean and most of that ocean is unexplored,” said Dan Laffoley, a marine expert for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“So it’s absolutely critical, at this time when we see such large changes occurring, that we get people down there, we get eyes in the ocean and we see what’s happening,” he said.
Scientists will combine their observations with those conducted last year during a seven-week Indian Ocean mission. They plan to present their findings in 2022.
